TROY, Ala. (AP) — Damien Taylor rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns, Matthew Caldwell threw for a touchdown and ran for another, and Troy scored 21 points in less than two minutes in the fourth quarter to beat Southern Miss 52-20 on Saturday. Taylor went straight up the middle from 56-yards out to give Troy a 24-8 lead midway through the third quarter. He added a 35-yard scoring run for a 38-20 lead with 5:50 left in the fourth. On the ensuing possession, Ian Conerly-Goodly intercepted a deflected pass and returned it 31 yards for a 25-point lead. Southern Miss quarterback Tate Rodemaker was intercepted again and LJ Green returned it 49 yards to the Golden Eagles' 16-yard line. Jordan Lovett capitalized on the short field by running it in from the 5. Taylor reached the 1,000-yard mark on the season for Troy (4-8, 3-5 Sun Belt Conference). Caldwell was 14 of 26 for 187 yards and he carried it seven times for 30 yards. Rodemaker threw for 234 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Southern Miss (1-11, 0-8). Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Tulane QB Mensah transfers to Duke; Mississippi State’s Van Buren, Cal’s Mendoza enter portal
ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF coach Gus Malzahn is resigning after four seasons with the school. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report the move, which will see Malzahn to leave to take the offensive coordinator job at Florida State. Malzahn previously worked with FSU coach Mike Norvell during their time at Tulsa under then-coach Todd Graham from 2007-08. The Knights ended a disappointing 4-8 season in which they lost eight of their last nine games, the longest losing streak since 2015. Malzahn, 59, was in the fourth year of a contract through 2028. His buyout, it is reported, would have been $13.75 million. He finished 27-25 at UCF but lost 16 of his last 22 games and was a dismal 4-14 in two seasons in the Big 12. After back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2021-22, the Knights went 6-7 in 2023 and 4-8 in 2024. This season started with high expectations as Malzahn made sweeping changes to the program. He retooled the strength and conditioning department and hired Ted Roof and Tim Harris Jr. as defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively. He also added nearly 50 new players to the roster, leaning heavily on the transfer market. UCF started by winning its first three games against New Hampshire, Sam Houston and a thrilling comeback at TCU, but offensive struggles saw the Knights tumble through a TBD-game losing streak to finish the season. Terry Mohajir hired Malzahn on Feb. 15, 2021, six days after he was hired to replace Danny White. The move came eight weeks after Malzahn had been fired at Auburn after eight seasons of coaching the Tigers. The two briefly worked together at Arkansas State in 2012 before Malzahn left for the Auburn job. “When he [Mohajir] offered the job, I was like, ‘I’m in.’ There wasn’t thinking about or talking about ...,” Malzahn said during his introductory press conference. “This will be one of the best programs in college football in a short time. This is a job that I plan on being here and building it.” UCF opened the 2021 season with non-conference wins over Boise State and Bethune-Cookman before traveling to Louisville on Sept. 17, where quarterback Dillon Gabriel suffered a fractured collarbone in the final minute of a 42-35 loss. Backup Mikey Keene would finish out the season as Gabriel announced his intention to transfer. The Knights would finish the season on the plus side by accepting a bid to join the Big 12 Conference in September and then by defeating Florida 29-17 in the Gasparilla Bowl. Malzahn struck transfer portal gold in the offseason when he signed former Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. Plumlee, a two-sport star with the Rebels, helped guide UCF to the American Athletic Conference Championship in its final season. However, Plumlee’s injury forced the Knights to go with Keene and freshman Thomas Castellanos. The team finished with losses to Tulane in the conference championship and Duke in the Military Bowl. Plumlee would return in 2023 as UCF transitioned to the Big 12 but would go down with a knee injury in the final minute of the Knights’ 18-16 win at Boise State on Sept. 9. He would miss the next four games as backup Timmy McClain took over the team. Even on his return, Plumlee couldn’t help UCF, on a five-game losing streak to open conference play. The Knights got their first Big 12 win at Cincinnati on Nov. 4 and upset No. 15 Oklahoma State the following week, but the team still needed a win over Houston in the regular-season finale to secure a bowl bid for the eighth straight season. From the moment Malzahn stepped on campus, he prioritized recruiting, particularly in Central Florida. “We’re going to recruit like our hair’s on fire,” Malzahn said at the time. “We’re going to go after the best players in America and we’re not backing down to anybody.” From 2007 to 2020, UCF signed 10 four-star high school and junior college prospects. Eight four-star prospects were in the three recruiting classes signed under Malzahn. The 2024 recruiting class earned a composite ranking of 39 from 247Sports, the highest-ranked class in school history. The 2025 recruiting class is ranked No. 41 and has commitments from three four-star prospects. Malzahn has always leaned on the transfer market, signing 60 players over the past three seasons. Some have paid huge dividends, such as Javon Baker, Lee Hunter, Kobe Hudson, Tylan Grable, Bula Schmidt, Amari Kight, Marcellus Marshall, Trent Whittemore, Gage King, Ethan Barr, Deshawn Pace and Plumlee. Others haven’t been as successful, such as quarterback KJ Jefferson, who started the first five games of this season before being benched for poor performance. Jefferson’s struggles forced the Knights to play musical chairs at quarterback, with true freshman EJ Colson, redshirt sophomore Jacurri Brown and redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk all seeing action at one point or another this season. This season’s struggles led to several players utilizing the NCAA’s redshirt rule after four games, including starting slot receiver Xavier Townsend and kicker Colton Boomer, who have also entered the transfer portal. Defensive end Kaven Call posted a letter to Malzahn on Twitter in which he accused the UCF coaching staff of recently kicking him off the team when he requested to be redshirted. Get local news delivered to your inbox!PACS LAWSUIT NOTICE: PACS Group Investors are Notified of the Upcoming January 13 Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit – Contact BFA Law (NYSE:PACS)
No. 10 Maryland holds off George Mason late, 66-56 in a matchup of unbeatens
Bol Bowen 3-4 1-2 7, Ewin 7-10 3-5 17, Holt 1-3 2-4 5, Jackson 3-7 2-2 8, Watkins 5-6 2-4 14, Davis 1-4 3-4 6, Deng 4-6 0-0 10, Swinton 3-4 1-1 8, Thomas 3-3 2-4 10, Maluk 2-7 0-0 4, Nitu 0-1 0-0 0, Mbatch 1-1 0-0 2, Rozakeas 0-1 1-2 1, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Simpson 0-0 0-0 0, Crawford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-58 17-28 92. Hankins-Sanford 1-3 2-4 4, Rivera 4-12 3-4 12, Muhammad 0-1 0-0 0, Curry 4-9 8-9 17, Diggins 2-13 0-0 4, Guerengomba 3-11 3-3 10, Watson 1-2 2-5 4, Ndjigue 1-2 0-0 2, Worthy 0-3 2-4 2, Abdelgowad 0-0 0-0 0, Damjanac 0-0 0-0 0, Doumbia 2-2 0-0 4, Foster 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-58 20-29 59. Halftime_Florida St. 37-27. 3-Point Goals_Florida St. 9-18 (Thomas 2-2, Watkins 2-3, Deng 2-4, Holt 1-1, Swinton 1-1, Davis 1-2, Bol Bowen 0-1, Crawford 0-1, Rozakeas 0-1, Jackson 0-2), UMass 3-24 (Curry 1-2, Rivera 1-4, Guerengomba 1-6, Ndjigue 0-1, Watson 0-1, Worthy 0-2, Diggins 0-8). Rebounds_Florida St. 28 (Ewin 7), UMass 31 (Hankins-Sanford 13). Assists_Florida St. 25 (Jackson 6), UMass 8 (Diggins 4). Total Fouls_Florida St. 24, UMass 20.
NoneRidgefield School District puts two levies February ballot; building third elementary school proposed
MIAMI — The Miami Heat in its Jimmy Butler era has been consistently good enough to tease and tantalize but not good enough to turn the hope into celebration. So it is again now, just past the quarter mark of his sixth NBA season in South Florida, with a team 12-10 after three impressive straight wins. You can predict how this will play out, though, right? Coach Erik Spoelstra’s men will marshal the fierce competitiveness that defines Heat Culture to be the proverbial tough out in the first round of the playoffs. But the Heat will be nobody’s threat to raise the franchise’s fourth championship trophy in a conference with reigning champ Boston and a half dozen other teams with better title odds. Pretty good. Not good enough. It might feel like harsh judgment of where the Heat stands, and of the Butler era, but it also is fair and accurate as fresh speculation swirls around the possibility Miami might part with Butler before the league’s Feb. 7 trade deadline. The introduction of Butler before Thursday night’s home game vs. Toronto might in turn feel a bit different. A bit more like goodbye? Like thank you? Butler’s five-plus seasons in Miami have been an on-balance success if you’re a bottom-liner. Two NBA Finals and an Eastern Conference final series (though all ending in loss) have seen the Heat as legit contenders in three of five seasons. And Butler already has risen to fifth all-time in club win shares, after only Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Alonzo Mourning and current teammate Bam Adebayo. Playoff Jimmy has proved able to lift his game in the postseason with epic performances ... though not able to lift the ultimate trophy. Eccentric, colorful, he has a lasting place in Heat lore, albeit with the big goal unfinished. So the Heat faces a decision right now: — Continue to believe that the Butler-Bam-Tyler Herro Big 3 core is the answer and championship-capable. — Or acknowledge it is not and that it’s time to tweak and retool with a Butler trade. Choice seems pretty clear to me. Butler has an opt-out after this season, can become a free agent and reportedly would pursue that path. So the choice is to keep him the rest of this season, then lose him and get nothing in return for him but the memories. Or trade him in the next seven weeks and get something in return to kick-start the retool. Easy answer: Trade him and get something, obviously assuming the offers are sufficient. Because, as is, Butler is an expensive veteran with an expiring contract — a time bomb. If there is a fair offer, jump on it. ESPN’s NBA insider Shams Charania (a.k.a. The New Woj) reported Tuesday Miami is “open” to offers for Butler and that the player cites Houston (where he’s from), Dallas and Golden State as preferred destinations. There has been speculation involving Denver and the L.A. Lakers, too. He reportedly wants a win-now team, an acknowledgment he doesn’t think Miami is one. There would be presumed interest, market value I think, even though Butler is 35 and with a somewhat onerous $48.7 million salary. A team close but needing a missing piece might have room or make room for a proven scoring option and fierce defender. What I won’t get into here (you’re welcome) is the machinations of what deals might work under the league’s new CBA trade rules. I leave that to Andy Ellisburg, the Heat’sVP/general manager who deals with the salary cap and such. Start mentioning “tax aprons” and my eyes glaze over. But I know this: Houston, Dallas and Golden State among them have a combined 10 tradeable first-round draft picks to dangle in a deal for Butler. Each has young players good enough to be a part of Heat plans moving forward. No team will give up a comparable star for Butler, but a package of players and picks, yes. High draft picks, players obtained in return and available current veterans such as Duncan Robinson and Terry Rozier might be something Miami could parlay. Next summer’s free agents list also includes one Kyrie Irving, whom Pat Riley has privately had on his radar for awhile. Herro, having a great season, and Adebayo remain players to build around. Young rising star Jamie Jacquez Jr. can step into Butler’s role. The challenge is that Miami must parlay what it gets for Butler to get somebody younger and better. Or do the same in free agency. Bottom line: With Butler leaving soon, either by trade or in free agency, the Heat must confront its pressing need to replace him. Miami should strike a worthy deal and get something for Butler before he gets away for free. ©2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.